Carl Levin and former Gov. John M. Engler, two men with polar political views, have reached unusual common ground on an unlikely matter: Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
http://media.mlive.com/design/alpha/img/logo_mlive.gif105/29/200906/02/2009
-->

Editorial: A U.P. Gitmo might work

Michigan U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and former Gov. John M. Engler, two men with polar political views, have reached unusual common ground on an unlikely matter: Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

President Barack Obama wants to close the place and bring the detainees to the United States. "Detainees" is the working word in this situation, as some of them are terrorists who want nothing more than the death of this country. Others fought for the wrong side when war broke out between the U.S. and Iraq/Afghanistan. And, others still it appears, may have simply been at the wrong place, wrong time.

Guantanamo was a convenient site to take them. Close to this country, yet in a different place with gauzy legal rights when it came to the persona non grata people. Torture, failure to bring charges, prisoners held incommunicado for months or even years were the rule of the day. For a long time, even the constitutional right of habeas corpus was denied the detainees. Until the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in.

So, Obama made a big deal about shutting it down.

Granted, he followed through on his pledge to do so. Problem: It costs money to close a prison, and 90 members of the Senate last week refused to authorize the cash -- not until the president comes up with a place to hold the accused terrorists while waiting for trial and a place to imprison them if they're convicted. That makes sense.

Of course, no one wants those people. Not even Nevada, where we house our nuclear waste.

Enter Engler and Levin.

Earlier this month, Engler, who now works for the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, D.C., suggested that Michigan offer up one of its Upper Peninsula maximum security prisons or nearby former U.S. Air Force base. Levin, one of only six senators to vote for the shutdown money, likes the idea.

First off, the state could rent it, lease it or sell it to the feds for big money. Not bad for a state in a "will work for food" economic mode. In fact, Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan says the state, which is aiming to reduce the inmate population and close some prisons this year, already is advertising incarceration space to other states and the Justice Department.

Also, making one of the U.P. prisons a federal high-security supermax might bring jobs to an area starved for them. Upper Peninsula counties suffer some of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

Given that this is a political hand grenade, it's really up to the governor and the locals. If they like it, maybe it would work. Obama problem solved, Michigan budget gets a boost, residents get jobs, communities survive.

The biggest barrier is the idea of having accused international terrorists on state soil -- as if human terrorists such as August and Shytour Williams (remember Karen King?) aren't dangerous enough.